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French Freedom of Speech

The mayor of Calais is suing Marine Le Pen of the Front National for saying "repeatedly" that citizens in Calais need a pass issued by the mayor to get to their own homes (because of the number of migrants in the town). In fact, the passes are issued by the police prefecture.

Who's en colère today?

The SNCF (toujours eux), regional train employees in the Lyons area guaranteeing unpleasant travel from the 17th-21st December
Also yet another strike by Sud-Rail, a particularly truculent SNCF union in the south of France, this time five days in January: 6,7, 21, 22 and 23. "We have no choice." Right.

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On Untranslatable Words

There are always words that you can't seem to translate, and it tells you something about a culture to see which ones. You can eventually explain the meaning of these words, but not always their feeling. Here are a few examples.

FRENCH doesn't have a word for:

kind The French say "gentil," which is not at all the same; "nice" can be false, but "kind" means with a good heart.

home "Foyer" or "maison" is somehow not homelike.

squeamish "délicat" is not the same thing at all.

rude "mal poli" does not translate the American sense: aggressively, deliberately impolite.

gentleman in French seems to be more of a fashion statement than a personal quality.

tailgating -- as in a car. This is curious because almost all French drivers tailgate. Maybe it's like our not noticing gravity until Isaac Newton pointed it out.

friend Of course, the French have friends too. But a French ami/amie always has to have a sex, whereas we find it's often so convenient not to have to say.

neighborly Did you ever read Guy de Maupassant?

ENGLISH doesn't have a word for:

sortable This refers to someone you are not embarrassed to take places. "Presentable" is somehow less flattering.

doux which means so many things in one word: gentle, sweet, soft.... La douce France....

Elaine Sciolino in ParisOf the N.Y. Times (or as it prefers to be known, The N.Y. Times) and writer of La Seduction: How the French Play the Game of Life

Le Franco PhoneyA long-term Australian expat in a French ski resort. I can't believe it took me so long to discover this one.

The Compleat AngloI have to like a blog that is named The Compleat Anglo. An Englishman married to his Madame, in the Basque country

Flipflop France23-year-old Sasha, an Oregonian from Forks (town made famous by the Twilight vampire saga), has settled down in France's second city, Lyons. [No that isn't a mistake. I spell it the old-fashioned English way.]